Designing a nation

The Ottoman Bank Museum, an adjunct of Garanti Bank, is hosting a pair of key projects that offer a different viewpoint on the efforts at ‘self-promotion’ that Turkey finds difficulty with even today.

A documentary, ‘The Black Sea: A Turkish voyage’, focuses on a traveling exhibition ship that tours European ports at Atatürk’s behest to promote Turkey in Europe. Meanwhile an exhibition, ‘Designing a Nation: European States in the 1920s and 1930s’, takes a look at the political regimes governing the European nations on the ship’s itinerary in the 1920s and ‘30s when the Turkish Republic was taking it first steps towards modernization. Sponsored by Garanti Bank and The Netherlands Culture Fund, the Black Sea documentary can be viewed free of charge at the museum cinema for the duration of the exhibition, which runs through 20 March.Tel: (0212) 334 22 70